La Catrina Mexican Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Florence

I hate to leave a low-star rating, but my wife wanted to try this place for her birthday, and we left disappointed.

She got a dish that came with chicken, steak (on the bone) and shrimp.

The chicken was decent, and the shrimp too, but her steak on the bone tasted spoiled. It was very tough and had a bad taste; all 3 of us tried it and agreed... my wife says it's like they left it out all day and then cooked it. We decided to not eat the rest of it because it was that bad.

My brother-in-law's steak was a different cut, and it wasn't as bad as hers (it was edible and he finished it), but it also wasn't very good. We all tried it as well.

I liked my "fajita mixta" with the chicken and steak pieces; it definitely didn't taste spoiled like my wife's did... but I've had better fajitas with similar ingredients.

Additionally, the server didn't bring my tostada out right away, and when I asked about it she said it was almost ready. It was cold when I got it and I can't say that I liked it very much.

We had to wait around 10 minutes for the server to appear again for us to ask for tortillas when we realized we didn't get any with our plates (anywhere else I've gone, a fajita comes with tortillas). Granted, she was the only server on the floor, but she only had 3 tables of 3 or fewer guests per.

Last thing... we ended up paying substantially more than we would have at a similar restaurant, like over $100 for 3 people. Before tip. I didn't pay too much attention to prices before we ordered since we were focused on celebrating, but it's pricy and not at all worth the price.

I don't think we will return or recommend this place to anyone. There are plenty of other Mexican restaurants around. I hope you don't have the same disappointing experience if you decide to give this...

Overall good experience. Food is delicious, seems pretty authentic for Mexican food around here. We shared the Veracruz fajitas and it was delicious. Although some of the beef was a little overcooked and was hard, the flavor was great. Three tortillas for a large plate of fajitas wasn't enough, and when asked for more, weren't offered to bring more tortillas, which seemed a little strange. It also said it came with guacamole and sour cream. We asked for sour cream on the side, but it came with no sour cream nor any guacamole. When we asked, we were told it was avocado, not guac. But that's not what the menu said. And we weren't then brought sour cream nor guac. The kids menu doesn't have any quesadillas, which I feel is a missed opportunity. Most kids love cheese quesadillas. We had to order an adult portion for our kiddo, they didn't offer a single cheese quesadilla for a different a la carte price. My kid loved their Mexican rice. We also ordered a pastor and barbacoa taco. They were both yummy and authentic tasting. I would love to try the other authentic tacos like lengua, cabeza, tripa. My kid loved the barbacoa in the taco. I had picked this place because margaritas sounded good, however they said they didn't have margaritas when we got there, because they didn't have a bartender. That's understandable, however when the bartender showed up, they started serving margaritas to other tables and didn't come ask if we wanted one. I had to flag them down and beg for a margarita. I got a peach one on the rocks and it was delicious.

We want to give them another shot because the food was delicious. Just seemed they were short on staff and didn't have top tier...

I really enjoyed my meal. I had the molcajete. I thought it was strange at first that the cheese cubes were ice cold when it came to the table. But! As I munched on everything else the cheese melted right into it, so if you get the mochajate and think it's strange that the cheese is cold just wait it will melt and be delicious. They know what they're doing!

I also had a lingua and cabeza taco. I completely enjoyed them both. Just be aware that cabeza tacos are not fall apart in your mouth meat. There is some gristle and there is some fat and if you don't enjoy that don't get it. But I loved it.

Also make sure that you try the sauces, it is a tomato and guajillo sauce, there is a Chipotle sauce, and there is a creamy jalapeno sauce. I really enjoyed the guajilo and tomato sauce the most.

Oh, and the queso is THICK! they don't thin it out like most of the other places around here. Loved that!

I've seen a few reviews of people saying there's a language barrier. As for us; the Lady who served us clearly was not an English as a first language person, but we had no problems whatsoever. Anybody that goes to a Mexican restaurant and expects them to speak perfect English is ignorant. Why would you want that anyway? I want to go to a restaurant where someone has lived in that country and can share that tradition and food with me.

I wish I could give it more stars it...